The Pesthouse

The Pesthouse

by Jim Crace

Blurb:

Once the safest, most prosperous place on earth, the United States is now a lawless, scantly populated wasteland. The machines have stopped. The government has collapsed. Farmlands lie fallow and the soil is contaminated by toxins. Across the country, families have packed up their belongings to travel eastward toward the one hope passage on a ship to Europe.

Franklin Lopez and his brother, Jackson, are only days away from the ocean when Franklin, nearly crippled by an inflamed knee, is forced to stop. In the woods near his temporary refuge, Franklin comes upon an isolated stone building. Inside he finds Margaret, a woman with a deadly infection and confined to the Pesthouse to sweat out her fever. Tentatively, the two join forces and make their way through the ruins of old America. Confronted by bandits rounding up men for slavery, finding refuge in the Ark, a religious community that makes bizarre demands on those they shelter, Franklin and Margaret find their wariness of each other replaced by deep trust and an intimacy neither one has ever experienced before.

My Reaction:

It took a little time to get into the flow of the language with this one, and even once I did, I had some issues with the pacing, but on the whole, I found this an interesting tale.  I appreciated that it wasn't remotely as gratuitously dark as so much post-apocalyptic fiction tends to be; that made for a nice change.  

There's a lot I still don't understand about the world the author built in this book.  Why have people forgotten so much about their history, for instance, while they've managed to hold on to other things (like the traditional, Founding-Father names)?  

Anyway, I find I don't have much to say about this, now that I'm done with it.  It's different... If you don't mind a meandering pace and feel intrigued by a future civilization that feels more like a medieval/Old West mash-up than The Jetsons, this is for you.  Ah, just be forewarned that it's a post-apocalyptic romance, minus much of what you usually find in a romance!  (It's an odd book.)

Super Constitution

Super Constitution

by Charles Kim

Unedited Blurb:

The birth of a legend begins in the early summer of 2016. Three extraordinary geniuses get together and combine their unique technologies. Not by armies and bombs or politics, but with these technologies the three geniuses wrote the "Super Constitution" and ordered the worlds most powerful governments to dismantle weapons of mass destruction and to establish the Global Government. The Global Government, establishing only one-world armed forces under its own direct control, set up revolutionary economic policies establishing unilateral currencies and complete free trade in the world.

My Reaction:

Donald and I read this together-- the latest 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back podcast subject.  As almost always with these 372 Pages book selections, it's not something I'd ever have chosen to read, if it weren't for the podcast.  Also as almost always, it was very amusing, for all the wrong reasons. 

The title and description honestly sounded like one of the most boring books I could imagine reading-- even worse than a tedious recounting of someone playing a classic 80s arcade game (thanks, Ready Player One)-- though not quite as unpalatable as another Bob Honey or Shadow Moon (because, come on).  I mean, fictional politics?  Sign me up!  I'm definitely not sick to the gills with actual, real-life politics; no, I am hungry for MORE and have an endless appetite for some random guy's political fantasies.  Can't get enough of those dry legal documents-- especially ones that aren't real and have no possible bearing on my life!  

However, to its credit, the first section of the book is nothing-- nothing-- like that.  Far from being dry or dull, it's just the most bizarre thing ever.  I can't say much without spoiling it, so I'll only suggest that you listen to the podcast, if you're interested.  Certain sections of this book are truly not to be missed, if you're a fan of absurd fiction.  

... And then the book moves on and gradually becomes more of what I'd originally expected (i.e. mind-numbingly boring), but we read every word and aren't sorry.  Yes, there are some paragraphs you might as well skip, but fortunately, even the dry sections are sprinkled with moments of unintentional hilarity and disturbing glimpses into the mind of the author.  Again, it's difficult to describe if you haven't actually read it (or listened to the podcast, as copies of the book are hard to come by).  It's like nothing else I've ever read.  

This is an excellent choice if you want a unique reading experience.  You do have to wade through some tripe to get to all the good stuff, though, so be forewarned.

Modelland

Modelland

by Tyra Banks

Blurb:

No one gets in without being asked. And with her untamable hair, large forehead, and gawky body, Tookie De La Crème isn’t expecting an invitation. Modelland—the exclusive, mysterious place on top of the mountain—never dares to make an appearance in her dreams.

But someone has plans for Tookie. Before she can blink her mismatched eyes, Tookie finds herself in the very place every girl in the world obsesses about. And three unlikely girls have joined her.

Only seven extraordinary young women become Intoxibellas each year. Famous. Worshipped. Magical. What happens to those who don’t make it? Well, no one really speaks of that. Some things are better left unsaid.

Thrown into a world where she doesn’t seem to belong, Tookie glimpses a future that could be hers—if she survives the beastly Catwalk Corridor and terrifying Thigh-High Boot Camp. Or could it? Dark rumors like silken threads swirl around the question of why Tookie and her new friends were selected . . . and the shadows around Modelland hide sinister secrets.

Are you ready? Modelland is waiting for you. . . .

My Reaction:

We read this along with the "372 Pages We'll Never Get Back" book-club podcast.  

This is one of the most bizarre books I've ever read, even for 372-Pages!  (It's not the worst thing we've read, though.  Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff was literally unreadable, in my opinion, and Shadow Moon was the most awful, painful slog of anything we've read for the book-club.)

As I was saying, this novel is just one weird thing after another.  There are times that you can see where she probably drew inspiration (from Harry Potter, for instance), but more often than not, I had no idea what would happen next, because it's just that kooky.  (Kooky Tookie.)

While I didn't enjoy the book, per se, it was certainly interesting, in its way.  I'm curious what the author had planned for the rest of the books in this series.  It was meant to be a trilogy, I believe, but after this novel's lack of success, it seems unlikely the other books will ever be written, even though Tyra Banks is moving forward with other "Modelland"-related projects.  I wouldn't really want to read another book set in this universe, but I'd be curious enough to skim a synopsis.  (There were quite a few unanswered questions at the end of "Book 1".)

Modelland revealed some odd things about its creator.  For instance, there's some real animosity toward actors here, which is a bit funny coming from a supermodel.  Then there are the strange ideas about what's romantic or sexy in a brand-new relationship between teenagers.  Jumping right to thumbs in mouths?  Smoothing your beloved's eyebrows with saliva on your thumb? (Ugh, so disgusting!  Please, don't rub your spit on someone's face as a sign of affection or desire!)

The very long section of "Acknowledgements" at the end was almost sad to read.  It felt so optimistic about this novel's chances of success, referring to future books in the series... The way she documented exactly where different parts of the book were written (for posterity), because surely the legions of adoring fans would be agog to learn every little detail about the creation of this beloved work of fiction... Yeah, kind of sad, until I reminded myself that the author is extremely wealthy and is a famous model/TV personality/whatever else she does/has done.  I'm sure she bounced right back from any disappointment over this book's reception! 

Snowflakes

Snowflakes
by Ruth Ware

Blurb:

Leah has spent her formative years isolated on a remote island with her family. But their quiet existence, far from the devastated mainland, is cracking. Father, sensing a coming threat, demands that a wall be built. As the stone blockade rises, Father’s paranoia escalates. So does Leah’s dread that the violence the family left behind has found its way to their sanctuary.

My Reaction:
The audio version of this short story was available for free, and I've enjoyed some of the author's novels, so I decided to give it a try. 

...Well, I guess it was one way to spend some time while washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen, but I don't like the story.  

Problems:

--Ugh, political overtones!  No thanks!

--Predictable "twist".

--Depressing.  (I won't get into spoiler territory, but it wasn't my cup of tea.)

--The little girl (? how old was she, exactly?) and her singing just annoyed me. I must be a cold-hearted so-and-so, but yuck.  Especially in audiobook form, that was irritating!

At least it was short, right?!  I doubt I'll bother with the other stories in this collection (from other authors).

Shadow Moon

Shadow Moon
by Chris Claremont and George Lucas


Blurb:

War and chaos have gripped the land of Tir Asleen. An ancient prophecy reveals one hope: a savior princess who will ascend to the throne when the time is right. But first, a Nelwyn wanderer must face forces of unimaginable malevolence and dangerous, forbidden rites of necromancy that could bring back a powerful warrior from soulless sleep.

My Reaction:
Shadow Moon was the latest selection for the 372-Pages podcast (and a shared read-aloud with Donald). I can safely say that I would never have read this book, otherwise. I hadn't even seen Willow until shortly before starting the book-- in preparation for reading-- and neither movie nor novel were especially appealing to me.

(I think that I have some resistance to new-to-me fantasy novels, though I usually enjoy them well enough once I start. I just never believe I will like it, for some reason. It doesn't tantalize me like some genres do. I was more open to fantasy as a younger reader, and maybe it's time to give some of it a try. Part of the problem is that fantasy = looooong books, in my mind, and that's a turn-off.)

Anyway, the 372-Pages verdict was that this is the worst thing they've read to date. I certainly didn't enjoy the book, and there were times when I dreaded reading it, but I can't agree that it's the worst. No, for all its many faults, Shadow Moon is not as bad as Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff, in my opinion, though I can see why Mike and Conor might disagree. (Bob Honey had more in the way of comedy fodder, and ultimately I think it comes down to the sheer number of pages and words. This was a long, long book. At least the steaming pile of crap that is Bob Honey was short. Still too long for me to endure, though. The only DNF of the podcast, so far.)

So... Shadow Moon... The chief problems are as follows:

-- If you read it because you liked Willow, you'll be disappointed by the fact that there's almost an entirely new cast of characters, and even the ones from the movie who do survive into the bulk of the book are changed to the point of being nearly unrecognizable.

-- What passes for a plot is stretched thin, and it moves at a snail's pace.

-- The characters aren't endearing or even interesting. Some are mere cardboard cutouts.

-- The descriptions of "magic" are far too long and repetitive. I would've been okay with a little of it, but honestly, at some point, you just stop caring. The endless descriptions of Thorn suffering agonies or being exhausted likewise hold little appeal. When a character bounces right back from being ripped apart on the molecular level (or something like that), there's no chance of anything ever truly harming him, so why even bother paying attention?

-- There's nothing good or enjoyable in this world, apparently, and the whole book is very "blah". A well-plotted, fast-moving dystopian novel is one thing, but in something as sluggish as this, it's just one more reason to not want to bother.

I was vaguely curious about how the story progresses into the second and third books-- though not curious enough to want to read the books!-- so I looked them up online. I've had no luck finding a detailed synopsis or answers to my specific questions. It's a fittingly dissatisfying end to my experience with this novel.

I was considering awarding the book 1.5 stars rounded up to 2, mostly in reaction to the mere suggestion that Bob Honey is the superior work... But after writing this review, I realize that I can't do it. This is a one-star book, I'm afraid.

Ready Player One

Ready Player One
by Ernest Cline


Blurb:

In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

My Reaction:
(This was a shared read with Donald.  We also listened to the 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back "podcast book club" from Rifftrax's Michael J. Nelson and Conor Lastowka.)

Let me preface this by saying that I was a child in the 80s (and a teen in the 90s)-- and what's more, I get the appeal of nostalgia.  (And yes, I am convinced that in the 80s-- and honestly, many other decades-- music was better, on average, than what I hear on the radio now.)

I'm also an unashamed consumer of many "nerdy" franchises.  (Not that anyone is ashamed of being a nerd/geek in the modern world.  At least some version of so-called "nerdiness" has been cool for quite some time, now.  It's all pretty mainstream...)

However, even with my nerdy 80's-kid cred, I felt no warm fuzzies while reading this book, and I'm amazed that it's so beloved.  (After Fifty Shades of Grey, I should've known better...)

Admittedly, I've never been much of a gamer, but I don't think it would've made much of a difference if I had been.  The problem is, pop culture references can only take you so far.  There needs to be something of substance to make a novel good, and this one is lacking.

The concept of the OASIS is interesting (though not exactly groundbreaking), but the characters were not as likeable as they're clearly supposed to be, the writing was rife with "telling, not showing", the numerous gods were falling over themselves to leap from their varied machines... Do I really need to go on?  It's all been detailed in other reviews.

Essentially, a glut of references to the nerd culture of the 80s (and sometimes 70s, 90s, etc.) is apparently supposed to be enough to sustain an entire novel.  Well, it's not.  It's not enough to make me love or even like the characters.  It's not enough to add drama or a sense of purpose.  It's not enough to make sense of this dystopian future where the world is a steaming pile of crap just a few years from GAME OVER-- which doesn't seem to stop people from living almost their entire lives hooked into some glittering digital utopia.  (Where is the food coming from?  The OASIS seems to run pretty smoothly, considering the energy crisis... Who's making all these "rigs" that everyone has?)

Ugh.  I just don't get this book's popularity, at all.  (And that's before I factor in the author's pompous atheist screed, creepy masturbation manifesto, and the unnecessary inclusion of "UberBetty".  Dude. Some stuff you really ought to just keep to yourself.)

It's just not good!

(Also, how does one categorize this?  Apart from some adult themes, it has a YA vibe, and the main characters are young adults, but most of the references-- the only possible reason to read this thing-- are clearly aimed at an older audience who would have been young adults/children/conscious in the 1980s.)

That said, I suspect that the movie-making professionals will manage to make the movie better than the book.  For one thing, it would be difficult not to improve upon the source material... For another, it seems likely that the story (such as it is) will work better on screen than in writing.  It should be much easier to stack up the layers of visual and audio references.  I'll probably see it, at some point, just out of curiosity.  Er, well, unless the reviews are awful...

Reading about someone playing "classic" video games and reciting movie dialogue line by tedious line was not enjoyable; let's see if Spielberg and co. can make watching it any more palatable.

Half Way Home

Half Way Home
by Hugh Howey


Blurb:

Five hundred of us were sent to colonize this planet. Only fifty or so survived.

We woke up fifteen years too early, we had only half our training, and they expected us to not only survive... They expected us to conquer this place.

The problem is: it isn't safe here.

We aren't even safe from each other.

My Reaction:
(This was a DNF-- Did Not Finish.  First, I tried this as a shared read with Donald, selected on a whim because it was a temporary freebie.  We got bored and abandoned it, but I decided to continue on my own, thinking it might be better suited for reading alone.  I didn't get very far before giving up in disgust and skimming the last two chapters.)

The premise was promising, and it started out pretty well, but before long it felt as though the author stepped aside and let someone else pick up where he'd left off.  The quality of the writing went downhill, and I was endlessly irritated by the author's sledgehammer-weight "social issues" overtones.  Prepare for a heavy-handed message of "religion is bad/dangerous (and believers are insufferable and stupid)".  Oh, and you'll thrill to the totally-not-done-to-death cliche of the evil corporations that care about nothing but profit.  There's also a very odd focus on a character's sexuality (see spoiler section below).  That's not really what I expect (or want) to be the focus of a book that's ostensibly a sci-fi tale of survival in a hostile environment!

Amusingly (?), there's also a bit toward the end that is rather scathingly anti-abortion (see section below for direct quote), which I imagine would displease many of the same readers who thoroughly enjoyed the other "messages" in the book... Sure, in this book the ones being aborted are 15-year-olds-- so obviously it's wrong-wrong-wrong-- but we mustn't have the word "abortion" being sullied by association.  Didn't the author get the memo that it's not cool to question the morality of abortion?

I didn't realize this was supposed to be YA literature until after I'd started reading it-- and to be honest, I probably wouldn't have chosen it, if I'd known.  Some YA lit is great, but there's just so much dross to wade through to find the good ones-- unless you have a reliable recommendation to steer you aright.  (Of course, that's not true for just YA...)

I enjoyed the author's Wool series (though even those I felt were uneven in quality-- strong in premise, somewhat weaker in execution), but this was not nearly as interesting (beyond the "intro" section).  When I read his novella, The Hurricane, I had a similar sense of disappointment-- though that at least I managed to finish reading.  (That, too, was written for a YA audience; make of that what you will.)  Too bad... I wouldn't recommend this.


Specifics (with SPOILERS):
--The narrator is homosexual, and in the first quarter of the book that I read before skipping to the end, he seemed to struggle to come to terms with this fact.  It just kept cropping up, which felt weird and uncomfortable-- and frankly, completely out of place, given what I thought the focus of the book was going to be (i.e. a fight for survival on an alien planet).

Then, to make things even stranger, it's revealed at the end of the book that all the psychologists for the various colonization groups have been carefully selected to be homosexual (because apparently it's as easy as looking for some handy dandy gay gene).  Each psychologist is the only gay colonist in his/her group.  Since they won't be able to have a romantic relationship with another colonist, these psychologists will be completely impartial and clear-eyed (or something).  Enforced celibacy/monkhood.  Um, okay...  Yeah, it's not like people can form platonic bonds strong enough to make them emotionally involved, biased, or whatever else.

--"Note the pit in the earth where Geiger counters register the death of five hundred potential humans.  And know that you killed more than just them in your ruthless calculations.  You killed every generation that may have come after, if only you'd given them a chance."

If this sentiment is true when applied to 15-year-old colonists-in-goo, why isn't it true when applied to a fetus/unborn child?  Believe what you will.  Speak and vote for what you want-- but be honest with yourself about the results of what you're advocating.  (No wonder some readers get in a twist over this aspect of the book!)

--One review I've skimmed indicates that there are caterpillar-type creatures with golden poop.  As in, their "droppings" are literally made of gold.  (insert blank expression here)  If that's true... I no longer feel the slightest twinge of regret for giving this a one-star rating.

Dark New World

Dark New World
by Henry Gene Foster and J.J. Holden


Blurb:

Society crumbles after an EMP attack, and the terrifying nightmare has only just begun…

Three people from different walks of life each experience the end of America. Cassy is a 33-year-old prepper and single mother, away on business. Ethan is a hacker and conspiracy nut living underground. Frank is a family man out camping with friends and family. When a devastating EMP attack in the middle of the night destroys America’s infrastructure, they are propelled on an unforgettable journey across an ocean of chaos to reach safety… Safety from an unknown invader and from once-fellow Americans now hungry and desperate. Dark New World is a prepper story of survival and the fight to retain humanity in the face of an apocalyptic event.

My Reaction:
(I listened to the audiobook version of this title.)

Hm... I found myself rolling my eyes and scoffing far too often, while listening to this short novel.  I can't do more than round it up to three stars, unfortunately.

The blurb describes this as a "prepper story of survival", and that's about right.  The heroes/heroines are preppers, and the whole thing feels like it's very strongly aimed at preppers-- which is fine.  I mean, if you're writing a book for preppers, I suppose this is what you get.  It does feel a little cartoonish at times, though... It's like someone took a long list of things a prepper might think about when planning for a disaster scenario, then went down it and checked them off, one by one.  (...And yet this book doesn't go into great detail about how to be a prepper.  In my opinion, that doesn't really belong in a work of fiction, anyway.  This is more of a prepper-themed adventure.)

At first, it's refreshing to have characters who are prepared (for once) for the disaster at hand.  I enjoy the "planning and taking calculated action" portions of post-apocalypse/doomsday stories, myself, and this has a lot of that.  However, planning can get dull after a while-- and to keep the drama high, our primary heroine, Cassy, has to find herself in some bad situations, some of which she (as a prepper/survivalist) should probably have been able to avoid.  

Cassy-- well, pretty much all of the characters, to be honest, started to get on my nerves after a while.  Too many of them were stereotyped, for one thing.  Yes, sometimes stereotypes exist for a reason, but I can only handle so many of them in one dose.  (Oh my gosh, that teenage girl!  So annoying!)

There were times when I felt I was almost being lectured or preached at-- or at least bombarded with heavy-handed "lessons", which is unpalatable.

I also have some issues with the timeline and pacing.

First: Maybe it's naive, but I don't think that society would break down quite so quickly as it seems to do in this book-- or at least not so completely in such a short space of time.  I do think it would/could happen at some point, but friendly next-door neighbors threatening to shoot one another in only one or two days?  ...I find it doubtful.

Second:  (Spoilers to follow!)  The story sped up at the end to the point that I had a hard time keeping track of what was happening to whom, because the perspective shifted so frequently.  I'm still not entirely sure what happened to injure Cassy and how she ended up in the bunker.  Of course, part of the problem is that I was doing yard work while I listened and may have been distracted for a few moments-- but I still think the pacing was a bit off in the last section of the book.

Readers may be disappointed that there's not a completely satisfying conclusion at the end of this first installment of the series.  At least all the main characters have come together, but there's still a long way to go before they reach relative safety-- and you have to continue with the next book to see if/how they make it to Cassy's farm.  Based on a little peeking, the series will have at least four books-- maybe more-- and it sounds like each one leads directly into the next.  Very serialized.  At the moment, I doubt I'll bother with the second book.  The premise of the series still interests me, but I found too many of the characters too annoying to want to spend much more time listening to or about them...

The Girl With All the Gifts

The Girl With All the Gifts
by M.R. Carey

Blurb:

Melanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her "our little genius." 

Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh. 

Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children's cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she'll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn't know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.

My Reaction:
I'm not sure how much I can say without giving away some of the story.  When Donald mentioned the book to me (having seen someone else raving about it), he inadvertently told me something that technically is a spoiler, though I've seen reviews that assume everyone knows that particular spoiler or will pick up on it so quickly that it's not worth bothering about.  All the same, I'll try to avoid giving anything away until the "spoiler" section below.

Though I have a few quibbles to address (see the spoiler section), I did enjoy The Girl With All the Gifts and found it engrossing.  Even if science-fiction horror isn't your usual genre, this might be worth a try.  There's world-building, cinematic writing, character development, a coming-of-age story, a few truly creepy moments, and just enough action without bogging down into the endless "then he did this, then she did that, then there was a massive explosion, and blah blah blah" that puts me to sleep.  It's a carefully balanced blend that works very well.

Though the main character is a pre-teen girl (eleven years old or so?), this is most definitely not a book for children-- nor is it quite a high-brow, "literary" book.  It falls somewhere in the sweet spot between highfalutin modern literature and pulp.  This may be a page-turner, but there's also plenty of "mental meat" (eww...) to chew on long after you've finished reading.

Recommended!  (Just be aware that violence and adult language and themes do pop up, from time to time.  Again, it's not ideal for younger readers.)


Specifics (with SPOILERS):
--Though I noticed before I began reading that the author was a man, I'd forgotten that by the time I got to the end of the book, and I found myself automatically referring to the author as a "she".  This may simply be a reflection of the fact that most of the central characters are female, but I think it also means that Carey writes from a female perspective with greater than usual skill (for a man ;o)).

--True to the genre, the author has come up with his own word for zombies. "Hungries".  It's one of the better alternative monikers I've come across-- vaguely sinister-sounding, gets the point across very succinctly, and highlights the scariest thing about zombies.

--Generally, I prefer slower, shuffling zombies.  (It just makes sense to me-- and it's sooo important that things "make sense" in zombie stories, you know-- that a reanimated dead body would be fairly sluggish in its movements and rate of speed.  But to each her own!)  That's a small complaint, though, and it's something I didn't have much trouble overlooking, in this book.  Though I'm not crazy about fast zombies (maybe because it makes them just too powerful), I did like the fact that these zombies freeze and stand statue-still when not in active pursuit of food.  That does make sense.  Why would the fungus have them waste energy by roaming endlessly about, to no purpose?

--There's a fair amount of time and energy devoted to the explanation of (and further investigation into) the cause of this version of the zombie apocalypse-- including how these zombies "work" and the survival tricks the living employ (e-blocker, slow movements, etc.).  The concept of a "zombie fungus" is intriguing-- all the more so because of its basis in reality.  The science never gets technical enough to lose the reader (or his interest), but there's enough detail to make it feel real.

--The first part of the book, before the junker attack, is excellently creepy and unsettling.  One of the few weak points is the striking coincidence that the junker attack just happens to come at the perfect moment for saving Melanie's life...

--Melanie.  It's impossible not to grow fond of her, early in the book-- even though I tend to picture her as looking like Rhoda from The Bad Seed.  (g)  Gallagher's description of her is pretty accurate: "He's not sure what she's like.  A live girl, maybe, dressed up as a hungry.  But not even that.  An adult, dressed as a kid, dressed as a hungry."  Melanie would never have been a normal child, under any circumstances.

--One thing that doesn't quite make sense to me is that no-one, neither the teachers nor the researchers, noticed that the hungry kids were growing, in captivity on the base.  I can't remember for certain, but wasn't Melanie there for at least a year or two?  That would be long enough to notice some growth, in a child of that age.  If nothing else, her hair and nails were growing.  (We know that her hair grows back after Caldwell shaves her head, so her hair must've been growing all that time before, too.)

Maybe they had some explanation for it, but in my mind, if you're dead-- even a member of the reanimated dead-- your hair won't grow back/keep growing.  Even if they did explain that away, somehow, I don't think they could come up with a logical explanation for the children visibly aging over the course of a year or more.  Surely that's the type of thing that a scientist would chart and notice.

I suppose the reason for all this is that it was more exciting and worked better for the plot to have no-one realize (until near the end) that the children were still growing and "alive" in some way, unlike the first-generation hungries.  Somehow, they kept track of the kids' mental and psychological development, but failed to notice any physical changes.  It seems a little sloppy, but I'm not sure how it could've been handled better, so I try to overlook it.

--One of my pet peeves in zombie books is people getting drunk.  I just don't get it.  "Hey, we're in a high-risk situation where we might need to mobilize or defend ourselves at a moment's notice, but we just found some booze, so let's get blitzed.  We won't even bother designating someone to stay sober for the greater good.  Booze all round!"  Considering how people behave, I guess it's probably more realistic than I want to believe.

--I get frustrated with Justineau, at times...

--And I was frustrated with Gallagher, in his last moments.  Are we supposed to be struck by the nobility of his sacrifice?  His unwillingness to hurt the hungry kids?  Remember, he doesn't know they're the next generation of... "humans".  For all he knows, they're just monsters that are going to kill him painfully, and then maybe go after the rest of this group, too.  And yet he just can't bring himself to let them die-- even as just a side effect of his own "exit".  ...I must be a bad person, because reading in that moment, I wouldn't have minded having the lot of them destroyed by a grenade.  I like Melanie, but not these wild hungry kids.  Clearly, I'm awful, because in his place, I would probably have killed them without a qualm.  (~shrug~ You've been warned; keep your wild, cannibalistic kids away from me, because I will not be eaten alive, if I have another option.)

--We never do find out what happened to Beacon.  Is it still standing?  Has it been over-run?  Or is Parks correct in his optimistic suggestion that the tower was relocated?  (Doubtful.)  We'll never know!  I guess it doesn't matter, given the end of the book.  Anyone who's still alive is doomed, anyway.  ~sunshine and flowers!!~ ;o)

--The Ophiocordyceps wall/forest is an eerie image-- especially when Melanie goes on her stroll through it.  The forest of fungal "trees" would translate very well to the screen.

--Melanie: "The wild children are just the same as she is, except that they never got to have lessons with Miss Justineau.  Nobody ever taught them how to think for themselves, or even how to be people, but they're learning without that help.  They've already learned how to be a family."

Me: Well, ok... I guess there's some sense in what you say, even though those kids are creepy as all get-out.

Melanie: "And then Dr Caldwell comes and kills them as though they're just animals.  Maybe they tried to kill her first, but they don't know any better and Dr Caldwell does."

Me:  Yeah, Dr. Caldwell is awful-- no argument there-- but I hope you aren't suggesting that no-one has the right to protect themselves from these monster-kids, just because they don't realize the error of their ways..."

Melanie:  "It fills Melanie with a rage so strong it's almost like the hungry feeling.  And discovering that she can feel like that makes her afraid."

Me:  ~backs away slowly~ ...I think I liked you better back before you "found yourself".

--Ok.  We have the big reveal that the hungry kids are the product of zombie sex.  (Hey, don't blame me!  It's in the book!)  My question is this:  How come there are only "second-gen" hungry kids?  The zombocalypse happened at least twenty-ish years ago, and we can probably assume that there's been zombie sex from the beginning (because why would there not?), so shouldn't there at least be some older-teen "living-hungries"?  (That brings me to another question.  Are the hungry kids technically dead or not?  I guess they're dead, because surely Caldwell would've noticed if they had even the faintest pulse.  It doesn't make sense, but then, neither does it make sense that two dead parents could create a child, so...)

But back to my original question.  Why are there no 19- or 18-year-old hungry "kids"?  Hmmm?

--Ugh, Justineau shouts at Parks not to kill the hungry kids as the two of them run for their lives!  Oh, please.  "No, not the zombie children!!  They're only trying to eat us alive, Parks, you brute!  Have you no feelings?!"  Poor Parks.  I feel for the guy.

--So Melanie (with help from the unwitting Parks) fulfills her role as the post-apocalyptic Pandora, unleashing Ophiocordyceps spores upon the world at large, infecting every living human who breathes the air-- dooming them and clearing the way for a rising race of human-fungus symbiotes/whatevers.

Her rationalization:  She does it "because of the children.  The children like her-- the second generation.  There's no cure for the hungry plague, but in the end the plague becomes its own cure.  It's terribly, terribly sad for the people who get it first, but their children will be okay and they'll be the ones who live and grow up and have children of their own and make a new world."

Essentially, she's killing the old race of man because they can't be trusted to behave properly.  They'll end up killing one another (and the hungries) until there's no-one left to repopulate the world.  This way, with only hungries around, the hungry kids will take their rightful place: "They'll be the next people.  The ones who make everything okay again."

Yeah... I see where you're coming from, Melanie, but it's easier to be all la-di-da about the extinction of the original human race when you're a member of the group of special Chosen Ones.  Also, Melanie tends to oversimplify things a bit, imho.  But whatever.  To be fair, it was only a matter of time, anyway.  There was no way the few remaining people could've "gotten rid of" all those spores.  Eventually they would be released into the atmosphere.  She just hurried the process along a little.  :o/

--Is Justineau "lucky" or would she have been better off dead?  She has no choice but to spend the rest of her days teaching hungry kids.  I mean, sure, she's got Melanie, whom she loves... She'll be the one who helps shape the "next people", through her teachings.  If they adapt well, the new class of hungry kids will grow dear to her-- but she will always be alone, in some very basic, important ways-- and she'll have to rely on Melanie's protection from the monster brats hungry kids... Not a pleasant prospect.  Not to mention that she's a captive inside the tank, now.  Oh, well, maybe she can go for pleasant strolls around town in a special suit... Maybe.

...I think I'll go outside and enjoy the non-zombie-infested garden and breathe in the nice, fresh, non-sporified air.  Ahhh, life!

Wool 5 - The Stranded

Wool 5 - The Stranded
by Hugh Howey

My Not-Really-a-Blurb:

The story of the Silo and its inhabitants continues to unfold in this fifth installment in the Wool series.  ...And that's about it.  I don't think I can go into much more detail without risking spoiling aspects of the previous books.  Do you like books with a post-apocalyptic setting?  Give the series a try.  

My Reaction:
Overall, I enjoyed the books as a whole.  It was an interesting idea, and if "they" ever really do make a movie based on it, I'll definitely want to see how it translates to the screen.  That said, it wasn't flawless.  My chief complaint about this installment is that it seemed to wrap up very quickly and easily at the end... And a large part of the story takes place "off-camera".  I suppose the author felt it was necessary to provide a plot twist (which unfortunately was almost immediately obvious), but instead, it ended up being something of a let-down.

But again, negatives aside, it was usually an engrossing story.  I plan to eventually try the first of the prequels and... is the last one some sort of sequel to the Wool series?  Anyway, I'll try to read the rest of the related books, and I'd certainly recommend the series (faults and all) to anyone who enjoys dystopian fiction. 


More Detailed Comments (with SPOILERS):
--  So much negativity!  Which, alright, I guess is only to be expected under the circumstances-- but seriously, there seems to be a lot of contemplation of suicide in this series.

--  Weird that the "new" silo (sorry, can't remember their numbers... was it 17?) had spare suits ready and waiting, while Juliette's old silo (18?) evidently made them on demand.  The only reason she was able to survive her cleaning was that her silo had to make her suit to order, and was made of good materials from Supply instead of the usual "made-to-fail" materials.  It's a little thing, and maybe there's an easy explanation...

--  I must admit that I was really disappointed by the "big reveal" of how the surface world was (temporarily?) destroyed.  "We did it"?  Ugh.  "Operation fifty is completely pointless if anyone else survives.  The population has to be homogenous--"... and "The people who did this, they were in charge of a powerful country [which we know is supposed to be the U.S.] that was beginning to crumble.  They could see the end, their end, and it scared them suicidal."  Really?  ...Yeah, disappointed.  (And in case it wasn't obvious, the italicized words in the quotation above was my own comment.)

--  Also, it turns out that "it's only been a few hundred years"?  I could almost swear that one of the earlier books stated that it had been longer, but even if so, maybe that was just someone's mistaken belief... However, you have to wonder, would a people collectively forget so much (history, exotic animals) in just a few hundred years?  It sounds like a long time, but even by human standards it's not that long.  Possibly the strictures of the Silo-- being forbidden to discuss certain things on pain of death-- would be enough to keep people quiet and more quickly deteriorate common knowledge that would ordinarily be passed down orally from generation to generation... Just strikes me as odd. 

--  Bernard spends 90% of his time with one hand (a small hand, mind you) tucked into the front of his coveralls.  It's kind of funny, imo.

--  The cursing from the last book in the series?  It's baa-aack.  It's pretty strong stuff, again, too.  Part of the reason it feels so shocking is that most of the language is very mild, then all of a sudden-- blam!-- big, bad curse words.  However, this is not a series for the kids, so it's not as much of an issue as it could have been. 

--  The kids in the "new" silo feel a bit too convenient.  A plot device more than anything else.  What happened to the adults who had been sheltering them?  Was the baby the only child of the teenage girl?  Who was the baby's father?  (The teen boy?  One of the now-dead adults?)  They pop up out of nowhere, just to give poor Solo/Jimmy some company once Juliette's gone-- and a reason for him to finally begin to mentally mature. 

--  I'm glad that at least there was some type of a happy ending.  I was afraid for a while that the whole thing was going to end on a tragic note.

Wool 4: The Unraveling

Wool 4: The Unraveling, by Hugh Howey

Blurb: 

There is a legend in their past of an uprising, a war they have learned about, but have learned nothing from.

Nobody knows what went wrong. Nobody talks about what happened. Such are the silo taboos.

Now, nearly two hundred years later, the people of the Silo will get a chance to learn more about that distant uprising.

They'll get to start one of their own...

My Reaction:
This is probably my least favorite in the series, so far.  (I think...)  It's not that it doesn't have its high points-- because it does-- but the story is largely split into three strands set in different places, among different people, and when you find that you're groaning to yourself every time one of those strands comes back up (which is roughly a third or more of the book), it's not a good sign.  Also, this is definitely a "middle of a series" effort.  You pick up from one cliffhanger and leave off with another.

I'll have to finish the series to know more about how I feel about this book, I think.  Also, it might have hurt the book that I took a break after reading Wool 3 before starting Wool 4... Actually, though, I think what was more of an issue was that I got distracted by life and took a week or so away from the book before reading what turned out to be the final three segments.  Never a satisfying way to finish a book, in my opinion.  Much better to read the last bit while more of the whole work is fresh in your mind.



(SPOILER-filled) Specific Comments:

--  There are a lot of (apparent) suicides and suicidal thoughts in the silo.  Now, I'm fairly sure that some of these so-called suicides will eventually be ruled as murders (or if nothing else, we're certainly meant to have suspicions), but even with those aside, it's a pretty dark series.  I don't doubt, however, that there would be suicides in this sort of situation, with people holed up in close quarters from birth to death, with not much hope for an improvement in circumstances.


--  Juliette uses vats of soup to clean her suit.  I found myself wondering how those could still be wet enough to pour, if the people in the building were evidently so long dead.  Wouldn't all the liquid in them have dried out, leaving nothing but a solid "soup brick"?  If she found the soup inside a refrigerator or freezer, maybe that would make a difference, but I'm a bit skeptical.  Later on, Howey does mention something about water in open containers having long since evaporated out-- and we eventually discover that the soup must've been sitting there for well over thirty years.  I'm just curious. (Now that I think back, it seems like maybe she had to struggle to open the soup.  Was it sealed in airtight buckets?  If so, that would explain it. Duh! (g))


--  Lest there be any misunderstanding, the "strand" of the book I found comparatively boring was Knox and the people of Mechanical and Supply rallying to war and marching up the silo.  Up until they started actually mobilizing, it was interesting, but the further along that storyline went, the less I wanted to read with it.  Parts of it felt clichéd, and I'd have much rather spent more time in the new silo.  (Maybe one reason I dreaded this thread was that it was bound to end badly.)


--  Knox's speech to Supply... felt embarrassing and too grand to be realistic.  I squirmed.  Maybe that's just me, though.  I tend to find that sort of thing (whether in a book or a movie) unrealistic when supposedly concocted on the spur of the moment.  I think he does take some time to stop and think before speaking-- probably an attempt to mollify us over this very point-- but it wasn't enough to convince me, I guess. (g)  Perhaps it's just that since I'd be very unlikely to make such a speech (because I'd feel so silly doing it and am not generally an eloquent speaker), I find it difficult to imagine other people doing so-- especially without time for writing and preparation.  Even Lincoln didn't deliver the Gettysburg address impromptu.  ;o)


--  When Juliette finds tomatoes growing in the second silo, she wonders if tomatoes require seeding or "come back every year like weeds".  That gave me pause.  How long, again, are people supposed to have been living in these silos?  Hundreds of years, right?  It has to have been a long time, for people to have forgotten/failed to pass down through an oral tradition stories of so many animals... and speak/think about whoever built the silos as almost mythical-- not historical, flesh-and-blood-- figures... and there was an uprising that occurred 200 years ago.

Anyway, all this to say that with all that time to remove and destroy existing weeds-- and no new weed seeds coming in on the wind or from birds... How does Juliette even know what a weed is?  I doubt she would-- especially since she has nothing to do with the farming levels of the silo.  ...Unless the concept of a weed has somehow stayed alive in the silo longer than the memory of so many animals (despite the existence of children's books, which frequently focus on animals).  I guess it's possible, but I doubt it. (Another possibility:  They keep weeds alive in the silo simply to avoid the extinction of the species-- or in case they should prove useful later on.  But this is a no-nonsense world, and unless the weeds serve some purpose, I doubt they'd be purposely cultivated.  After all, they "steal" precious nutrients that could otherwise go to the food-producing plants.)


--  "Juliette wondered if she would start talking to objects, now.  Start going crazy."

Ugh, it's one of my pet peeves.  No, Juliette, talking "to objects"-- or simply aloud to yourself-- does not mean you're crazy or even simply "going" crazy.  Now, if you start imagining that they actually feel or think-- or if you're talking to them and expecting or hearing answers... ;o)


--  I know thirty-four years is a long time to be alone in a silo... and Solo is somewhat immature / stuck in the mindset of a teenager, since that's how old he was when he was deprived of human contact... but there were a couple times when I had to roll my eyes at the things he said.  He was sixteen when all that happened, if I recall correctly.  Sixteen is plenty old enough for him to have matured to the level of not blushing over the concept of, ahem, "waste elimination", for instance.  And when he says, "I talk to things sometimes, and whistle.  I'm a good whistler"... I just don't know.  Is that realistic, do you think?  Maybe it is.  To me it feels slightly less "50-year-old guy who's been completely alone for 34 years" and more "someone that even Forrest Gump would recognize as 'simple' and treat with extra kindness and sensitivity".  But I do like Solo, poor guy.  I hope he makes it along with Juliette back to "her" silo.  He deserves a nicer life.  Of course, then there's the question of how well he'd be able to adjust to an existence suddenly crowded with other people...


--  There seemed to be more cursing in this book than in the previous parts of the series, something I noticed with a certain degree of disappointment.  However, most of the time, the cursing comes from a handful of bad apples / generally disagreeable characters (except for the very end, when Juliette drops a couple of f-bombs on Bernard)-- and if you're going to complain about something, Lukas' contemplation of suicide seems much more objectionable / bad influence-y than "bad words"-- but still, I noticed it, so I mention it.

I was interested to see that someone pointed out this issue in a review on Amazon-- someone who was evidently much more bothered by the cursing than I was-- and that the author himself replied.  His response noted what I'd already observed-- that most of the cursing comes from "bad guys" or people in extremely emotional situations.  (And let's admit that it's fairly realistic.  I'll admit it: I curse, too, sometimes-- though I try to stay on the milder end of the spectrum. (g))  What really struck me, though, was his apologetic and respectful tone.  I'm impressed by such handling of negative feedback!



Final word:
I may take another break before picking up Wool 5.  (Variety: the spice of life.)  I think that's the last in this series (though there are also at least two prequels).  I'm hoping for a strong finish!

Wool 3: Casting Off

Wool 3: Casting Off , by Hugh Howey

Blurb:

The silo has appointed a new sheriff. Her name is Juliette, and she comes not from the shadows of deputies, but from the depths of the down deep.

But what does being a mechanic have to do with upholding the law? And how will she be able to concentrate on the silo's future when she is surrounded by the ghosts of its past?

Before she can even settle in, the whirring gears of the silo begin to grind anew. Things aren't right. And the people whose help she needs the most are gone.

If Juliette isn't careful, she'll soon be among them.

My Reaction:
The third installment in the Wool series is better than the second, I think.  (Not that the second was bad...)  There's another cliff-hanger ending (sensing a trend there), but I found it less of an instance of "must keep reading now" than the ending of Wool 2.  Maybe that has more to do with me than the books, though.  I need a break from the intensity of the silo.  I'm thinking something by Barbara Michaels... Maybe I'll enjoy this series more if I don't gulp it all at once.

A more specific comment--
I kind of wish the story was a little bit slower-paced.  I mean, I appreciate the fact that you don't have much chance to get bored, and I like the brevity, overall... but there are times when I feel that the story-- or the characters' interactions are a little too compressed.  Juliette and Lukas are a great example of this.  I like both characters, and I enjoyed their budding relationship, but it feels like they are way too invested in one another after, what, two or three evenings of even knowing one another by name.  Maybe emotions run higher and faster in the silo, but I would've liked to have seen things play out a little more slowly and realistically. 

Oh, and another thing... which happens to contain SPOILERS...

Ahem.  Did you catch that?
SPOILERS FOLLOW!



...We were supposed to know/guess about the 8"x2" screen after the end of Wool 1, right?  I really hope that wasn't supposed to be a shocking revelation at the end of Wool 3.  Because it was pretty obvious by then.  The existence of other silos, on the other hand-- not to mention Bernard's communication link with at least one of them-- now, that was unexpected.

I hope Juliette manages to find one of those other silos and shock its inhabitants by sauntering up to their cameras and waving.  (g)  Or at least finds a way to survive (good thing she's a master-mechanic), because I'm tired of all the deaths in this series, so far!



SPOILERS GO BYE-BYE, NOW.  
IS SAFE TO READ AGAIN.

So, I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.  But a break might be nice.  Something vaguely spooky and Octoberish, maybe.

Wool 2: Proper Gauge

Wool 2:  Proper Gauge, by Hugh Howey

Blurb:

A cleaning has been performed, and now the silo is without a sheriff. With only one good candidate available, Mayor Jahns and Deputy Marnes set off for the down deep to recruit her in person. Along the way, they discover much about each other, troubling news about this candidate, and stumble upon fractured alliances that could spell the doom of a silo they've worked long years to protect.

My Reaction:
I enjoyed it.  Not quite so much as Wool (the first installment), though... But whereas Wool felt like it could have been a stand-alone short novella, Wool 2 has more the feeling of settling in for a longer story.  Wool was one man's story, and while Wool 2 can be seen as one woman's story, it's also the beginning of a story about the silo as a whole.

...Anyway, it was enjoyable, but sad.  (Few dystopian tales can help being sad.)  Also, it has a major case of the cliffhanger ending.  You might as well secure a copy of the Wool Omnibus Edition, if you liked the first installment (which is now free on Amazon), because I can guarantee you won't be satisfied to stop after the second bit-- not if you like stories with some sense of closure. 


Spoilery Comments:
Bernard's insulting words about Jahns and Marnes-- spoken in their presence-- felt a little over the top.  Maybe it was just me, but that felt just too much, even for a guy who thinks he runs the place.  True, considering later (somewhat predictable) developments, maybe someone who'd be willing to do that wouldn't think twice about harsh insults based entirely on someone's age... but I picture Bernard as at least believing himself to be a mastermind of sorts.  What kind of mastermind would cast suspicion on himself by openly insulting the woman he's planning to kill?  Of course, for that matter, how does he think he'll escape suspicion when they trace the water back to his office?  I'm sure he'll have some excuse, but it seems like a bright guy would've found some other place/way to contaminate the water...

In any case, I think I'll have to brace myself for Bernard being an Evil Incarnate character with no redeeming qualities whatsoever-- though I hope he won't continue to be so cartoonishly drawn. 

Wool

Wool, by Hugh Howey

Blurb:

Thousands of them have lived underground. They've lived there so long, there are only legends about people living anywhere else. Such a life requires rules. Strict rules. There are things that must not be discussed. Like going outside. Never mention you might like going outside.

Or you'll get what you wish for.

My Reaction:
I'm impressed!  Well-written and thought-provoking.  It's not long-- just a short novella / long short story-- so if you enjoy reading about dystopian futures, definitely give this a try.  (The Kindle version is currently available for free on Amazon.)  This is the first in a series (not sure if the other installments are so short...), and I'll definitely be reading at least the next one (Wool 2 - Proper Gauge).

It might not be for everyone (can't go into details without spoiling it).  Heck, it might not even be for me on some occasions, but for today, it was good. 

Life As We Knew It

Life As We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer
(aka "The Last Survivors, Book 1")

Publisher's blurb:

I guess I always felt even if the world came to an end, McDonald’s still would be open.

High school sophomore Miranda’s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when an asteroid knocks the moon closer to Earth, the way “one marble hits another.” The result is catastrophic. How can her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis are wiping out the coasts, earthquakes are rocking the continents, and volcanic ash is blocking out the sun? As August turns dark and wintry in northeastern Pennsylvania, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove.

Told in a year’s worth of journal entries, this heart-pounding story chronicles Miranda’s struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all—hope—in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world. An extraordinary series debut!

The only good thing I can say about this book?  You look at food differently while you're reading this novel.  (Meat, bread, fresh produce, chocolate, pizza-- pretty much whatever we want, we can get it, and we tend to take that for granted, even though we know we shouldn't.)  You put down the book, remember that you are fortunate enough to still live in the "normal" world, then shudder at the thought that you might not always be so lucky (probably not because an asteroid nudges the moon, but for any number of other reasons).


Specifics (with SPOILERS):


•  "Mom's" political opinions irritated me and took me right out of the story.  Maybe they were meant to lend a sense of verisimilitude to the story, but... ugh.

Examples: 
"...There was no CNN.  'Maybe I'm wrong,' Mom said. 'Maybe the world really is coming to an end.' 'Should I try Fox News?' I asked.  Mom shuddered. 'We're not that desperate,' she said."

"And then, out of nowhere, was the president.  Mom hates him like she hates Fox News, but she sat there transfixed."

After the president speaks (from his ranch in Texas, so hmm, I wonder which president we're supposed to think of...), "Mom" mutters that he's an idiot, and she calls him an idiot again, later in the story.  She also says that she thinks the president doesn't specify how exactly things might get worse because he "didn't want to tell us because he was an evil jerk."  Such a charming woman!  Always assuming the best of everyone!  (Everyone laughs whenever "Mom" berates the president because it's so "normal-sounding" for her to be doing so.  Oh, that Mom!  She sure does hate the president, doesn't she?!  Hee hee.  It's so funny when Mom insults the Prez.)

"'I wish I trusted the president,' Mom said. 'I just can't imagine him handling this.'"  (UGH. PLEASE JUST SHUT UP,  YOU ANNOYING WOMAN.)

Now, I'm not going to say that a character can't or shouldn't think a president is idiotic (because I've thought-- and continue to think-- even worse than that about some politicians), but honestly, it took away from my enjoyment of the book and made me somewhat less sympathetic toward "Mom"/Laura almost right from the start.  I would like to read some modern novels in which the main, "good" characters are conservatives-- or at least characters with no specified political leaning who don't make stupid, predictable jokes about how awful Fox News is or how idiotic Bush is/was.  Please?  Are there any mainstream authors out there open to that possibility?

•  "Mom" (and Miranda) irritated me again when they go on the shopping spree and this happens: "'Miranda, you're going to canned vegetables and fruits.  You know what we like.' 'Mom, we don't eat canned vegetables,' I said. 'We do now,' she said."  Oh!  Well aren't weren't they the Fancy-Pants Family!  Don't eat canned vegetables, eh?  Not ever?  Maybe I'm revealing myself to be an awfully unhealthy, undiscerning person, but-- what?  The never eat canned vegetables??  I can understand preferring fresh for taste and (to some degree) healthiness, but good grief.  Don't they keep a can or two in the pantry for convenience's sake or "emergencies"?   (What?  You've never had an emergency that required a can of corn or green beans?  Consider yourself lucky.  ...Ok, I guess I haven't, either, but you get the point.) 

•  "'Get Progresso,' Mom said.  'They don't need water.'"  Ooh, nice free plug for Progresso, there.  Not that Progresso's the only soup brand that doesn't need water, but whatever...

•  "In a million years, I never thought we'd be drinking canned juice..."  I don't drink juice, period.  (Well, hardly ever.)  Never had it from a can, that I can recall, and it probably wouldn't be my preference, either.  But it still seems like Miranda feels very strongly about juice in cans, doesn't it?  Never in a million years, you guys.  I mean, seriously.  Juice.  In a can.  It's just... not right, ya know?  ;o)

•  I tried to look past it, but after the first half-dozen mentions of "wagons", I nearly exploded.  Who calls them "wagons"?  (People from PA, I guess-- according to the book, at least.)  Here, they are either "buggies" or "shopping carts". 

•  "We finally found a clothes store that was open... It was the kind of store we never go to ordinarily, small and not well lit, and everything looked dingy."  --and-- "I know Lisa and she'd never want a baby of hers to wear the clothes that store was selling."   I know this sort of thing is meant to highlight how the characters/their world changes... but honestly, it mostly just makes me annoyed with them.  In some ways, they (or at least some of them) are smart and practical right from the start, but in other ways, they're disgustingly shallow and dim-witted.  I like them all better once the natural disasters have... well, humbled and sharpened them somewhat-- made them more cognizant of the important things and less obsessed with celebrity and image. 

•  On the other hand... It drove me crazy how much of the time they seem to sit around and mope.  Yes, it's understandable to a certain degree.  They're low on energy because they're not eating enough, and they're low in spirits because they don't know when or even if conditions will improve.  But sitting and moping isn't going to help anything.  They should distract themselves with life-enriching activities-- music (singing, maybe playing an instrument, if they have access to any), reading aloud together, drawing, writing (something other than a depressing journal), games (which they do mention from time to time)... making their surroundings as cozy and comfortable as possible.  I'd be crocheting-- or quilting together spare fabric into blankets or something.  Finally, they do start making some changes in that direction, but it feels like a lot of time is lost just being miserable.  And most of the time, "Mom's" solution is studying textbooks.  Learning is good, but I don't think I'd put all my focus on that.  (Maybe I'm just burned out on education in general, but textbooks wouldn't be my first thought for mental or spiritual engagement, under the circumstances.  So many of them are so poorly written, for one thing... You can learn just as much from a good-- non-textbook-- work of non-fiction.)

•  Had to laugh when they found "a manual can opener and an egg beater and the sorts of things kitchens had in the olden days".  Ooh, antiques!   Sheesh.  We have a (admittedly, rarely used) manual can opener in a kitchen drawer.  I guess we're still living in the Stone Age...

•  I laughed again when "Mom" finally thought about baking bread.  Good grief.  Is that really the same character who had the foresight to stockpile nonperishable food, toiletries, etc.?  I mean, really.  How hard is it to think about bread?  You look in the pantry (as she'd surely been doing all along), you see the flour, and you think to yourself, "Hm... What can I make with the flour, I wonder?  Eh, nothing comes to mind.  Guess I'll just have to think some more about that one.  Maybe the answer will come to me in a vision."

•  When they're eating their pb&j sandwiches, "Mom says if we keep eating like this we'll end up fat and malnourished."  That "Mom" is such a killjoy.  Seriously.  I don't like the Mom character much, most of the time.   And since when is a pb&j sandwich that unhealthy, anyway?  I wouldn't recommend eating it for every meal, but plenty of kids grow up on the stuff.

•  This book ranks right up there with Farmer Boy for inducing hunger!  But whereas Farmer Boy does it through all the descriptions of delicious meals, this one does it more through the fact that the characters never have enough to eat.  It reminds me a little of The Long Winter in that respect, as well as a couple others.  (Everything comes back of Laura Ingalls Wilder. (g))  Another "Little House" reminder was the beef broth eaten with oyster crackers.  I knew good and well that LIW mentions oyster crackers at least once-- and looking it up, I see that Pa lived on oyster crackers in Little House on Plum Creek when he was stranded during a blizzard.)

•  "I sort of dread Peter's visits... It feels like all he knows how to talk about are illness and death."  I know people like that...

•  Why weren't "Mom" and Miranda helping with the firewood, when they were both able?  There shouldn't have been that much that they needed to (or even could) do around the house.  Women are not incapable of chopping or hauling wood. 

•  Unless I missed something, she never explains how they have water after their electricity goes out.  They're not on city water, I think, since wells are mentioned.  I know you can hook up a hand pump to a well, but I  don't recall her mentioning that...

•  Under similar circumstances, I doubt they would even try to reopen the schools as they did in this book.  I certainly wouldn't want my (theoretical) kids to go.  Even if things got back to normal, eventually, missing a year of school wouldn't be the... well, the end of the world. (g)  I'd focus on teaching my kids practical survival skills and leave the frills for later-- except for any subjects they found especially interesting and wanted to go on studying at home.

•  The scene where they burn the hair in the woodstove was-- ew.  Isn't hair supposed to really stink when you burn it?  But that brought up an interesting point that I don't think was addressed in the book.  Namely, what do they do with all their garbage?  Of course they'd probably burn the boxes and paper containers, but they're living off mostly canned food for months, so what do they do with all those cans?  There's no garbage pick-up, of course, and we don't hear about a homemade landfill or accumulating piles of bags.  I'm just curious...

•  Certain aspects of the book remind me of The Diary of Anne Frank, though of course there are also huge differences between the two-- the largest being that one is a work of fiction and the other not.  I found myself wondering if Miranda had ever read it.

•  I've never heard of anyone eating tulip bulbs.  It doesn't sound very appealing, but the family's reaction-- Miranda describes it as being "almost as though Mom had sauteed Gorton"-- seems a bit extreme.  Really?  It's a plant from the yard.  It's not that different from any normal garden vegetable. 

•  I gave an internal groan when Megan (the too-adamant Christian character) was introduced.  That's one part of the book I could've done without.  I mean, sure, there are people like that who go to cultish churches and are willing to kill themselves because they blindly follow false prophets, but why is it so often necessary to include them in this type of story?  At this point, it's not ground-breaking.  It's more of a cliché than anything else.  Why not have a normal Christian?  Do these authors not realize that such people exist?  A normal Christian?  Nah, that's too boring.  Instead we get Matt, of whom Miranda writes "I think he's a Buddhist these days".  (I guess he's experimenting with different religions, since he's a college student.  That's what stereotypical college students do, right?)

•  Related issue:  Oh boy, we get a brief encounter with a nutsy, hypocritical preacher-man.  What a surprising, creative decision to include him!  He eats the food his faithful give him, yet he insinuates to his parishioners that it is God's will that they starve themselves to death.  Yeah, that's what most preachers are like.  Very accurate portrayal. 

•  It's impossible not to wonder how/why some of the disasters in the book took place.  I guess that's not really the point of the story; it's not as important why these things are happening as it is how the family adapts to survive them.  But still.  You've got to wonder how/why the "tsunamis" get worse over time... and why the moon's closer proximity to the Earth would cause terrible thunderstorms the next day... and whether the moon would actually cause earthquakes (of all things) and volcano eruptions where there haven't been any in recorded history...  Even if you buy the premise that there are more mosquitoes around because of increased rainfall, warm weather, and lack of pest control, would there necessarily be an increased breakout of the West Nile virus?  I don't know... I just kept finding myself stopping and wondering how much of this has any basis whatsoever in reality.  But I tried not to focus too much on that.  (Tried.)

•  I guess I understand why "Dad" left the family to go with Lisa and find her parents... but I don't think it was the right call.  I think he and Lisa should've stayed with the rest of his family (though I doubt that would've worked out very well on a daily basis).  He has a bigger obligation to protect and feed his underage kids than he does to indulge his pregnant wife's wishes to find her parents.  The parents should understand that a pregnant woman wouldn't be wise to come looking for them, anyway. 

•  With all the repeated talk of people moving to the South and Southwest for better conditions, I was waiting for news of a fresh catastrophe in one or both of those places.  I suspect we'll hear more about that in the second or third novel. 

•  The chocolate chip scene.  Miranda acts kind of crazy, sometimes, but clearly she inherited from her mother.  That scene made me feel sick.

•  I was sorry when Mrs. Nesbitt died-- and also when Peter died, even though it feels like we hardly knew him. 

•  When they drank cocoa made from the ash-snow, I was surprised.  Didn't they still have some clean water left, at that point?  I'd use that until I had no other resort but the ashy water.  I think there can be some pretty nasty things in volcanic ash-- not the sort of thing you want to drink-- and boiling it probably won't help much, since, um, you can't kill toxic chemicals like you can bacteria. (Heh.)

•  I guess Horton still has food at the end of the book.  Shouldn't they have been eating his food for a while, once they realized most of them were probably going to starve?  I mean, I'm sure it's not very tasty for people-- and then you're left maybe having to "do something" about Horton, if there's not enough food to sustain him... but if it comes down to eating cat food and possibly having to kill your pet to keep him from suffering starvation versus starving yourself or your family... I'm sorry, but people have to come before pets. 

•  Later on, when Miranda sees the emaciated remains of dead pets, I wonder why people didn't catch and kill the pets-- possibly even to eat-- rather than let them starve or freeze to death.  I'd have a very hard time killing my own pets (if I could even manage it under those circumstances), but leaving them out to starve... that seems much more cruel than giving them a quick, relatively painless death.

•  I guess we're supposed to believe they've done everything they could, but I can't help but feel that the family didn't do much scavenging before things got so desperate that they had no energy to do so.  They could have tried fishing at the pond... digging up the roots of any edible wild plants... even digging up insects (before the ground froze).  Maybe there was nothing left, anywhere, but I find that hard to believe. 

UGH.

Feed

Feed, by Mira Grant

Publisher's blurb:

The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beat the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED.

NOW, twenty years after the Rising, Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives-the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will out, even if it kills them.

(Buckle up!  It's another unfavorable review.  I'm sorry.  I'll try to read something I'll react to more positively, next time.  I promise, I'm not purposely picking books I know I won't love;  I'm just awfully picky, I guess...  Or let's say I have "very discriminating taste", shall we?)

I started reading this novel expecting much more than it was able to deliver.  Honestly, I'm surprised by the high reviews it's received.   Not that it's an absolutely dreadful book-- it has enough going for it to avoid that designation-- but it's just not outstanding.  I mean, this novel made it onto an audience-picked "Top 100 Killer Thrillers" list (hosted by NPR, if you're interested).  It's number 74 on the list, and sadly, it doesn't deserve that spot.  (But then again, I'm sure many others on the list don't, either.  We have The Da Vinci Code at number 6, for example.)

Don't read this novel if you want a "traditional" zombie story; here, the zombies are in the background-- an established fact of life-- and the real focus is on a rag-tag team of journa-bloggers covering a political campaign.  That's right-- it's got politics.  It's also about relationships-- particularly the incredibly strong bond between an adoptive brother and sister (Shaun and Georgia-- aka George).  That might not sound too bad (though not what you expect if you think you're in for a zombie novel)-- and parts of it aren't-- but there's plenty of room for improvement.  (I'll go into lots of disjointed detail below.)

Some reviewers note that the story picks up its pace toward the end of the novel, the first in a trilogy.  Personally, I'm not sure that it's enough.  I'll probably at least start the second novel, eventually, but if it's not significantly more interesting in very short order, I doubt I'll invest more time in the series. 


My (Less Spoilery) Observations (Okay, Mostly Gripes):

•   Blogging has made a big comeback, in the future, serving as what many view as the most reliable source of news and entertainment.  I have no trouble believing that traditional media failed to meet the needs of the public during the first outbreaks, but I don't like the way "old-fashioned" blogging is described:  "Before then, blogging was something people thought should be done by bored teenagers talking about how depressed they were.  Some folks used it to report on politics and the news, but that application was widely viewed as reserved for conspiracy nuts and people whose opinions were too vitriolic for the mainstream."  Um, okay...  Maybe ten or fifteen years ago.

•  Then there's the doctor from the CDC who "violated national security to post details on the infection on his eleven-year-old daughter's blog.  Twenty-five years after the fact his words-- simple, bleak, and unforgiving against their background of happy teddy bears-- still send shivers down my spine."  So... This is 2014 (if I remember correctly), and the brilliant doctor at the CDC can't find a better way of distributing his vital, potentially life-saving information than on his 11-year-old daughter's blog?  Who does he think reads that?  Fewer than twenty other 11-year-olds, most likely.  Not the best way to spread the word far and wide.

•   Georgia is supposed to be a relatively "straight-news" person, I think, and yet pretty much every snippet from her news blog is nothing more than her opinions.  At one point, she crescendos a snippet by describing another character as "a man who seems most likely to escalate the unending conflict between us and the infected into a state of all-out war".  Yes, very unbiased.

•   It seems more than a little silly that the young seem to dominate the news-blogging techie world.  This is set around 2039/2040.  A man who's 30 in 2012 will be 57 in 2039.  So why aren't there more people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s doing techie-blogger stuff?  It's bizarre that it's so youth-centric.  Or do people magically lose their tech savvy if they've lived through the zombocalypse?

•  There is way too much repetition of and reference to a few things:  security measures, blood tests/testing units, and Georgia's "retinal KA"/sunglasses.  I think I'm an expert on all three, now.  I get that they were important elements of the story-- and in the case of the first two, the world as a whole-- but at some point, you don't need to explain every little thing.  People tend to remember after the hundredth time something's described. 

•  Speaking of the blood tests-- I guess the number of them indicates the degree to which people have given up their freedom... and their level of terror-- but good grief.  There are so many of them, and some of them are so redundant.  You have to take a test to leave a hotel?  You have to take a test when you enter a garage... and another to enter the elevator just a few steps away?  And another to exit the elevator??  Why not just have everyone fitted with a permanent testing unit/monitor that performs a scan at regular intervals?  Hey, I know!  It attaches to the base of the skull, and as soon as amplification is detected, it shoots a tiny but strategically placed blade through the brain or spine.  Great idea, huh?  ;o)

•   Inconsistencies.  There were too many of them.  For instance:  We're told that the gutsy bloggers of the world are the ones who go out to eat in restaurants, visit theme parks, etc., making it sound like most people just hole themselves up in their homes as much as possible.  (Which, if 87% of the population is unwilling to leave their homes, how can restaurants and theme parks-- of all things--  afford to stay open?  Basic economics fail, as they say.)  Later, there are huge gatherings of people and references to the fact that Sacramento resents the Bay Area because (among other things) it gets "the big tourism dollars".  Um, excuse me, but how in the world are there "big tourism dollars" anywhere, if 87% of people are nervous about going out for supper at a local restaurant? 

•  More inconsistencies.  At one point, Georgia says that "there have been no indications that infected individuals are capable of emotions as complex as hate.  Further, they're not dead.  If rights end where the grave begins, shouldn't they be protected by law like any other citizen?"  So, she's going to fight for the rights of the undead?  I get the impression it's more about her dislike of Tate than Zombie's Rights.  And then, later on, there's a reference to the danger of Tate "escalating the unending conflict between us and the infected into a state of all-out war".  ...But how can there be war when one side is a group of "people" unable to feel or think like people?  Makes no sense.  Later, we read that "a fresh mob wants to infect, not devour," and throughout the book it's suggested that the virus itself is somehow guiding the actions of the infected.  ("Once the virus is awake, you cease to be 'you'"... blah blah blah... "The zombie is a creature with two goals:  to feed the virus in itself, and to spread that virus to others."  So why in the world does she defend them against Tate?  Why argue semantics-- whether or not the zombie can "hate"?  Why does she make it sound like the infected should have more rights, when the conscious person-- the soul-- has already gone, leaving nothing but a vessel for the virus?  It's just crazy.

•  In the first pages of the novel, we are introduced to the way this zombie virus works, and we learn that when zombies get into larger groups, they are automatically, immediately more... intelligent, I guess you would say.  Pack intelligence is an interesting and new (to me) aspect in zombie tales, but I'm not sure how logical it is.  (And yes, looking for logic in zombie novels is probably an illogical thing to do.)

•  The nod to George Romero's zombie movies is amusing... as is the inclusion of a character who calls herself "Buffy".  The reference to T.S. Eliot's "The Wasteland", however, seems awfully contrived.  (Or maybe I'm just jaundiced because I didn't enjoy being made to read it in high school.)

•  Semi-modern slang such as "'Sup" (short for "What's up") and "'rents" ("parents") has survived into the late 2030's/early 2040's.  It's amazing(ly irritating)!  It's bad enough that I have to hear it now; must we be burdened with the thought that it might still be in use that far into the future?  How in heck does "'rents" survive the zombie apocalypse?

•   Buffy reminds me of Luna Lovegood, but without quite so much daydreamy vagueness.  Even the description of some of her clothes-- broomstick skirts... tie-dyed leggings... knee-length glitter tunic... star-and-moon hologram hair clips.

•   You'll be happy to note that Craigslist survives the zombocaplypse. 

•   "Poultry and fish are safe, but a lot of people avoid them anyway.  Something about the act of eating flesh makes them uncomfortable."  Ooh, more people turning into vegetarians.  I'm sure that reading that makes some people's day.

•  Does the author have something against Texas?  Georgia describes it as "a state famed for its belligerence, hostility, and political instability".  Sure, I assume that's the Texas of the future, but still... 

• "He is, in short, a politician who understands that the dead are the dead, the living are the living, and we need to treat both with equal care."  ...What does that even mean? 

•  There were a few times when Americans used British slang-- like "full stop" instead of "period".  Odd-- especially since the author is American.

•  Apparently Apple is still around... making top-of-the-line blood testing units, of course. 

•   There are blood testing units on the entries of vehicles (and homes and most other buildings), right?  Wouldn't that be kind of dangerous if you were seeking speedy refuge during an outbreak?  These blood tests must result in a lot of unnecessary infections.

•   The fact that large mammals can be infected is an interesting touch, but I don't think there are many viruses that affect all or even most mammals, so it seems far-fetched.  (Which is entirely relative, considering that this is a zombie novel.)

•  The repeated use of the word "folks" drives me crazy.  Politicians definitely do (over)use that word, but good grief.  Give us a little variety!  Besides, the politicians weren't the only ones "folks"-ing left and right. 

• The senator from Wisconsin refers to our intrepid trio of bloggers as "a bunch of Bay Area blogger kids", which struck me as odd.  Would a Wisconsin senator use "Bay Area" to describe them?  Seems like a descriptor a Californian-- or at most a West Coaster-- would think to use.   (Maybe I'm being a tad too picky here.  I was increasingly bored and/or irritated when I made these notes...)

•   Even if it's not mentioned, just assume that Georgia raises one or both eyebrows every fifth page.  She occasionally spices things up by putting her hand up in the "stop" position.  Meanwhile, Shaun's go-to response is a mocking salute that somehow manages never to look ridiculous or rude, or something.

•  Georgia "has" to wear heels to the party?  She describes her dress and adds that "situations that call for me to wear it almost invariably require hose and heels."  Require.  Must be some post-zombocalypse law, 'cause the last time I checked, you could wear flats or even dressy sandals to even a fancy par-tay.  Believe it or not, they won't shoot you on sight if you're not in stilettos.  Sensible shoes, gals; it's the way to go-- especially after zombies take over large parts of the world.

•  I don't think this is marketed as a YA novel (and there are aspects of it that might explain that-- language, violence-- not that those seem to matter, these days), but most of it has that vibe.  Not a judgement; just an observation.

•  I think this is one of those stories that would be better as a movie than as a book.  I would rather have watched than read it.

•  "If you want an easy job-- if you want the sort of job where you never have to bury somebody who you care about-- I recommend you pursue a career in whatever strikes your fancy... just so long as it isn't the news."  Oh, gag.  Seriously?  Let's glorify journalism!!  Hurray for journalism!!  Because it's the most important, dangerous job in the world!  Soldiers, police (and other law enforcement), firefighters, etc. never die in the line of duty, obviously. 


SPOILERS TO FOLLOW:

•   For a while, I wondered if there would be some sort of romantic development between Shaun and Georgia.  (Hey, they're not related by blood!)  There was just such an odd dynamic between the two of them...  Very touchy-feely.  

•  I found the presentation of religion and the Republican party annoying.  I was initially pleased when it seemed that there was going to be a "reasonable" Republican candidate-- one of the good guys and a Republican!  What novelty (in a modern novel)!  But gradually it became obvious that Senator Ryman was less a conservative than a RINO.   He's even described at one point as a "moderate leaning toward liberal"!  What a let-down, that even this novel's Republican candidate couldn't be a real conservative.  Then there's stuff like this:  "...half the party has embraced the idea that the living dead are a punishment from God and we poor sinners must do 'penance' before we can enter the Kingdom of Heaven..." and "Would he bow to the religious nuts who have been taking over more and more of the party in recent years?"  Really?  *sigh*

•  "Where did the senator stand on the death penalty?  Given that most corpses tended to get up and try to eat folks, he didn't see it as a productive pursuit.  What was his opinion on public health care?  Failure to keep people healthy enough to stay alive bordered on criminal negligence."  (And on and on.)

Basically, it felt like the author used Senator Ryman (and the novel as a whole) to present several of her own political opinions-- and some of the logic just doesn't make a lot of sense. "If you're killing someone for the crime of killing people, doesn't it sort of contradict the spirit of the thing if their corpse is going to get up and immediately start killing more people?"  Uh... except in this world, people turn into a zombie when they die, no matter how they die (as long as the brain is intact).  So... if you let the death row inmates die of natural causes, they're still going to have to be "put down" when they reanimate (or prior to reanimation).  Only in that case, you might not know they're about to die and reanimate, whereas if you execute them, you can be ready for reanimation-- or just choose a method of execution that precludes reanimation altogether.  It's an extremely weak argument against the death penalty.

•  So we have Ryman, Mr. Ideal, who is a "moderate with liberal leanings"-- and the only other Republican candidates I recall are a woman who's basically a media whore who'll do almost anything for publicity and Governor Tate, the far-right ("Bible-thumping") religious nut.  Of course.  He has a military background.  (Ooh, sinister.)  He's pro-gun and anti-abortion.  So, duh, he's evil and insane.  

• Now for more on the religion issue.  For a while, I was interested by the more philosophical approach to zombies.  But it gets old after a bit-- especially when there's a religious nutcase (Governor Tate, aka one of the Bad Guys).  And then there's Buffy.  She's described as being so religious.  She says grace before meals.  She prays before going to sleep.  She attends church regularly (before going on the road).  And yet she is the one character who believes in ghosts (???), writes porn, has premarital sex-- and eventually turns into a traitor, when someone takes advantage of her weakness and her religious beliefs.  One big fat UGH.

•  When it was "revealed" that Tate was one of the Bad Guys, I was SO SHOCKED!  I nearly fell out of my chair, you guys!  I mean, like, who saw that coming, right?  ;o)  Ok, maybe it wasn't meant to be shocking.  The fact that it was "revealed" with about a quarter of the book still to go might be an indication that the author knew it was painfully obvious that Tate was Evil.

•  The whole "listening in on Tate" scene-- what he said and the way he phrased it-- smacked of an old episode of Scooby-Doo and the de-masking scene (every episode had one!) in which the Evil-Doer goes on about "those meddling kids and their dog".  Heh.  And Tate is just about as nuanced as those cartoon villains, too, I'm afraid.

•  So, let me set the scene.  The major characters are listening to the feed from a bug.  Tate (a Bad Guy) is saying some very self-incriminating things.  And then the author hits us with this:  "Unaware that he was being listened to, Tate continued:..."  My mouth probably fell open at this point.  Yeah, it's kind of insulting that she thought her readers weren't smart enough to have figured that out on their own.  She had to spell it out for us.  Sheesh.

•  I'd suspected that Georgia was going to die, just about the time that she said that she "knew" Shaun was going to die someday, and she'd have to do this or that.  (I was still illogically kind of surprised when it actually happened-- but there you have it.  I'm always surprised when a writer kills off a main character, even when I've predicted it.)  So, maybe we were supposed to know she was going to die.  If not, then there's a bit of a boo-boo when a chapter begins with a snippet Georgia wrote that is credited not to her news blog, but to something called "Postcards from the Wall, the unpublished files of Georgia Mason".

•   I snorted when I read that part of the Bad Guy Contingent is... ready? ...the Tobacco Companies!!  (dun! Dun! DUN!!)  I expect it will come into play in the second or third novel.  So far all we know is that the "tobacco companies"-- that's as specific as it gets-- are involved, along with the CDC.  I'm just waiting for The Oil Companies to be unmasked as more Bad Guys. 


Something I Actually Liked:

•   "This is the truth:  We are a nation accustomed to being afraid.  If I'm being honest, not just with you but with myself, it's not just the nation, and it's not just something we've grown used to.  It's the world, and it's an addiction.  People crave fear.  Fear justifies everything.  Fear makes it okay to have surrendered freedom after freedom, until our every move is tracked and recorded in a dozen databases the average man will never have access to.  Fear creates, defines, and shapes our world, and without it, most of us would have no idea what to do with ourselves.  Our ancestors dreamed of a world without boundaries, while we dream new boundaries to put around our homes, our children, and ourselves.  We limit our potential day after day in the name of a safety that we refuse to ever achieve.  We took a world that was huge with possibility, and we made it as small as we could."


All in all, I certainly won't be reading this one again, and I probably wouldn't have read it the first time around, if I'd known how little I'd enjoy it.